WAGS 21.04.2021: At the Oriq, or Can you squeeze me in?

 

I shall start this blog from the Silves perspective since it seems that Paul is taking a short rest from the blogging treadmill. I must confess that, having become used in these past few weeks to writing about everything under the sun except walking, it is difficult to break the habit of inconsequential waffling. As it is I seem to have spent the past week in thinking about words because somewhere ( I cannot now remember where or how) I came across an article which was musing on the strange fact that English does not have a single word for “the day before yesterday” but yet it does have a single word for the act of throwing somebody out of a preferably upstairs window, lower floor windows not being  generally used for this particular exercise. That word is “defenestration”. There is even a poem on the subject of defenestration written by a rather interesting chap called R.P. Lister. Here it is:-

DEFENESTRATION

I once had the honour of meeting a philosopher called McIndoe

Who had once had the honour of being flung out of an upstairs window.

During his flight, he said, he commenced an interesting train of speculation
On why there happened to be such a word as defenestration.
There is not a special word for being rolled down a roof into a gutter;
There is no verb to describe the action of beating a man to death with a putter;
No adjective exists to qualify a man bound to the buffer of the 12.10 to Ealing,
No abstract noun to mollify a man hung upside down by his ankles from the ceiling.
Why, then, of all the possible offences so distressing to humanitarians,
Should this one alone have caught the attention of the verbarians?
I concluded (said McIndoe) that the incidence of logodaedaly was purely adventitious.
About a thirtieth of a second later, I landed in a bush that my great-aunt brought back from Mauritius.
I am aware (he said) that defenestration is not limited to the flinging of men through the window.
On this occasion, however, it was limited, the object defenestrated being, I, the philosopher, McIndoe.

(R. P. Lister (23 November 1914 – 1 May 2014), was an English author, poet, artist and metallurgist.). He is worth looking up in Google.

Logodaedaly is the invention of words, Daedalus having been a mythical Greek inventor.

We do not know if there is or ever was a real philosopher called McIndoe.

German has a word for “the day before yesterday” -  vorgestern. So does French – avant-hier – if one can allow a double-barrelled construction such as that to count as a word. So why doesn´t modern English? We need not go into Old or Middle English usageshere.

Talking of words, I was asked recently if I knew what the Japanese for hallo was. I didn´t. I could recall the Japanese word sayonara, but that means good-bye.

So, of course, later I looked it up. Apparently, there are about 19 different ways of saying hallo in Japanese, depending on who you are saying it to, e.g. their social rank relative to yours, and the time of day you are saying it.

That last bit about the time of day in relation to greetings is quite understandable to us in Portugal. We have all of us been in the situation where you walk into a restaurant here in the early evening and greet the staff with a cheery “Boa Noite” only to be answered with a firm “Boa Tarde”; so the next week when you go in, you greet the same staff with a confident “Boa Tarde”, only to be answered with a didactic “Boa Noite”. You can´t win, it seems.

But back to Japan, there is one common modern way of saying hallo “Moshi-moshi” but apparently that is only to be used when you´re having a conversation by mobile phone.

Foreigners in Japan are best advised to stick to saying “haro” and “bi-bi”.

Anyway, enough of the preliminary waffle.

It is now time for Rod´s report on the Silves WAGS Bubble´s recommencement walk. Initially, there was to be a group of six, but Maria managed at the last minute to SQUEEZE IN. Over now to Rod.

Having detected not a little «ennui» in the tenor of Paul´s blog last week, I cast about, looking for something reasonably original to enliven proceedings. And yes, then I came up with it...I could write about a walk, something not done almost since last year!

Admittedly it wasn't a very long walk in the event but after such a lengthy lay-off it was probably better to start slowly.  There had been some pre-discussion about how many were permitted to walk under lockdown rules, and whether westerly WAGS, or WWAGS, could traverse forbidden Portimão territory to rendezvous with easterly WAGS, or EWAGS..they decided not! 

  Well, 7 diehard ( perhaps not quite sure that is the right word these days) EWAGS, gathered at the unearthly hour of about 8.45 at the inevitably closed Oriq café. That it was such an unearthly hour was entirely the fault of the leader who must have still been dreaming of days long gone by when it was commonplace to set off at such an hour. So it was with surprisingly muted grumbles that John & Hazel, Terry & Jill, Maria, Yves and  yours truly set off  up the hills south of the café towards the big Portimão REN substation.

 The last time we covered that area, towards the end of last year, we had postponed our walk to a Thursday and paid for such a misdemeanour by running into the Algarve Division of the Portuguese Army engaging in mock (perhaps) warfare against the luckless avian dissidents.  This time we believed we  were to have the field to ourselves...but how wrong can you be. Instead of warfare the battlefields had been scrubbed clean of  shrub and scrub leaving no cover for the avian community, who had fled to more agreeable pastures.

  In their place were row upon row, hillside upon hillside of steel frames backed up by earth flattening bulldozers and JCB's with lines of Maersk containers disgorging hectares of solar panels stretching from Porto de Lagos all the way to the Arade River. Ah well one has to believe that is the price of tourism development...assuming it does start again one day.

All this was firmly barricaded by impenetrable fencing which put paid to continuing south and in the event obliged us to truncate the intended walk somewhat. Indeed the distance covered was but a miserable 5k, but perhaps partly made up for by most of it being either up or down, 

Three pioneers lead the way up to the trig

and included a visit to a rarely reached trig point with the inevitable benefits of  splendid views of not only the surrounding countryside but of Maria atop of it.  

Hey ´oop!

The old traditions must be maintained

There were of course flowers to be picked

and some sucker had to be picked to carry them home

From there we descended with little alternative other than returning to the Café Oriq...and it wasn't even midday! This was indeed too early for Terry, Jill, Yves and Maria to contemplate comestibles but John, Hazel and yours truly were unable to resist a tomato laden tosta mista which certainly proved to be amongst the best.

 It was great to get together again and to find that despite occasional gravity of the Blog the general content of WAGS conversation was reassuringly undimmed.

And we can leave the closing words and music to Fats Waller

Well not quite as John foolishly handed over to me to finish and publish. nevertheless Fats was a bit of class to end on penultimately.  As you would expect, the Lagos Bubble had not grasped the nettle and squeezed it with the same alacrity as the Silves Massif (Bubble 6 or less; Massif - 7 or more). Antje and Chris had done their Daily walks with Sasha, who had not been well, and M and I had also been sauntering, mostly separately as M has developed a penchant for a pre-dinner stroll, when the Chef is clearly going to be occupied. I prefer a morning bracer to get the metabolism flowing, Nevertheless I achieved, according to Withings, 42082 steps last week, a distance of 50.9 km and burned 16,077 kcal, but still weighed the same this Monday as I did last Monday! Cf. the paltry 4.83 km the Silves Massif racked up on Wednesday, despite tackling a few undulations.

   Anyway to complement, or underline John's Fats Waller Classic, I started to research the innocent word  used by Maria when applying to join this week's walk. I started with my 'Go To' source the Urban Dictionary - and quickly backed off as there were far too many NSFW connotations. I decided we all knew what she really meant, but the subsequent deluge of innuendo, was all based on fantasy and wishful thinking, - although the photo of Rod assisting Maria to climb the trig point, had some rather unfortunate metaphorical meaning.

 Like John I then went for songs, hoping that the great musicians might assist. Alas a search for songs about 'Squeeze in' not only focused on a group that somehow passed me by, called The Squeeze, but quickly progressed to squeezing fruit - and not just grapes.

One of the results was finding an inventory of 23 songs that use fruit for a sexual metaphor!

Stop reading now if this may affect your mental health.

One of the most influential Blues guitarists of all time, sold his soul for the lyrics ' You can squeeze my lemon 'til the juice runs down my legs. ' 

  This was covered by the magnificent Led Zeppelin who stressed those lyrics and renamed it 'The Lemon Song'

    Sonny Boy Williamson, a legendary Chicago Harmonica Player again went for lemons, but of the female persuasion with his piece, Until My Love Comes Down.

He goes on to mention his lady's other fruity assets too. In his period there doesn't seem to be much mention of mangos or papayas, nor on the other side - 'tomatos'.(sic)

Nevertheless it all seems to culminate with peaches and two songs thus entitled. An ambitiously named group called The Presidents of the USA starts off innocuously enough, but gets fairly dark later when he dreams in the song. I won't publish this song' in a family blog, - look it up yourself!

  Finally The Stranglers, who are not renowned for subtlety, sing Peaches and descend into a chasm of innuendo, double-entendre and profanity. Who would have thought the French word 'clitares' meant bathing suit! Well Google Translate can't cope with it, so we will have to resort to our resident linguist to confirm or deny!

    Again for the sensitive, I will refrain from posting it.  If you can't resist try YouTube Music.

     I hope we have the opportunity to get together , both E and W after the next review. Until then,, I hope everything is peachy for you, and you get your 5 a day regularly.

WAGS 07.04.2021: On the Road again.

   Well almost. Last Monday the Covid Rules in Portugal were relaxed so that it seems like we are allowed to have a saunter with a couple of friends. The Lagos Bubble will ease back slowly, hopefully, but not the first week!

    Of course the title of this post is a gratuitous excuse to play my favourite country singer and the song made 'popular' with the walkers on the TrailWalker event between 1989 and 1996, as the Marching Song of my team - Joint Effort! Trailwalker is/was an Annual Team Walking Challenge, for teams of 4 over a 100 km course across the New Territories in Hong Kong. You are given a maximum of 48 Hours to complete the course. Of course it is not all flat, so I have marked it NSFW!

   This is a shortish but well made video of the modern Maclehose Trail in Hong Kong .  

    

This was a charity event organised by Oxfam but  managed by whichever of the Gurkha Regiments was in Hong Kong at the time. Each Team had to contribute a minimum of HK$1600 in order to enter. In the years I participated, it was limited to 1000 Teams of 4 walkers, and you had to apply early to get a team entered. It was fairly easy to get sponsored in our line of work, and we contributed some large sums.

       Those were the days! My team of 4, Joint Effort. which was basically a Police Team  changing some personnel each year, composed of All Ranks, participated in the the event 7 times from 1989 to 1996, missing 1994 as I was in UK attending my father's funeral. A back up team in a car, carrying spare boots, socks water and food, Voltaren gel and painkillers was essential but was supplemented by Gurkha support at the check points. They provided Med Tents with massage facilities and 'Blister doctors' as well as strong Gurkha tea in huge urns supplemented with condensed milk and wedge sandwiches.. Amazingly restorative after about 12+ on the Trail.

      I personally completed 6, as I had bronchitis in 1996 and my eldest daughter represented me. Three of the team finished that year including Tanya, and I got them round in 23 hours and 59 minutes. It was always our aim to finish under 24 hours., after the first year when we did not know what to expect.

 

      In fact the first year we decided to stop overnight and eat, sleep and carry on at dawn. Conveniently I had a flat at about the midpoint so we came off at the Lion Rock Checkpoint (there were 10 checkpoints on the way to obviate cheating), grabbed some nourishment and slept for about 6 hours. We ended up with a Team time of 31 hours and 41 minutes, and concluded that it was not a great idea as we had stiffened up and felt so groggy that I had a job whipping the team back to the Trail.

    Second year was a disaster as 3 of the 4 in the team dropped out for various reasons and I limped in on my own in 25 hrs and 45 minutes. Needless to say, the team was disqualified. in 1991 we all finished but at different times, as some were suffering over the second half of the course which really has to be jogged if you want to go under 24 hours. I made it in 23 hours 27 minutes, but our Team Time was 25 hours and 48 minutes. Very easy to have tiffs along the way as walkers tire.

   In 1992 we all crossed the line together in 21 hours and 5 minutes.

   1993 was our best year ever, and with a fairly senior all-Expat Team and we all came in together in 20 hours and 45 minutes.

All sorts of talent took part in many categories

   As I said, in 1994 I was back in UK, and I can't recall if the others carried on leaderless as I have no record.

    In 1995, I built my team from myself and 3 local Chinese officers and we all finished in a Team Time of 26 hours and 19 minutes.

   In 1996 I was recovering from bronchitis, so I couldn't participate but as I said, I co-opted my eldest daughter, Tanya, who was 16 at the time, and despite having not participated in much training, with the advantage of youth I dragged her over the line sobbing, in 23 hrs and 59 minutes. Recently she sent me the video above and it is clear that memories of the pain have faded and she said  " Would love to walk the Maclehose Trail again - Are you up for it?"

The map of the Trail, loaded  with an original size photo, in case any of you want to test yourselves when we are allowed out to play overseas. Elevation gain/loss is given as 6139 meters, and often the temperature was 30 C in the day when we were training and humidity in 70-80%'s

    It was with the Maclehose Trailwalker event in mind that I came up with an event, suitably modified for the AWW. At one stage I was tempted to make it a One Day, 24 hour competition, but when we had done the first one in 2002, I decided it would be too embarrassing to come in last in our own event! That was how the RTC was created, a nice 50 kms over 2 day with a good dinner and a few beers thrown in.

    The Trailwalker event was established in 1981 by Brigadier Mervyn Lee in Hong Kong as a training exercise by the Queen's Gurkha Signals, part of the Brigade of Gurkhas of the British Army, which was at the time based in the British colony. In 1986, teams of civilians were allowed to take part and Oxfam Hong Kong was invited to co-organise the event.

In 1997, with the handover of Hong Kong to China, the Gurkha regiments were relocated to the United Kingdom. The Trailwalker event followed the Gurkhas' relocation and was organised over the South Downs in Sussex, with Oxfam in the UK acting as partner since 2002, alongside the Gurkha Welfare Trust. Oxfam Hong Kong continued to organise the original event without the Gurkhas and the event has grown with 17 events now taking place across 10 countries worldwide.

       The event was inevitably won in the early years by teams of Gurkhas,(using taxpayers money for training purposes) who ran most of the way.! Their crack teams used to come in at round 14 hours. the best times before they put in some additional check points to prevent shortcuts. In most races other competitors were too far behind to see the routes they took, but they used to go straight down steep mountainsides with their short muscular legs pumping like pistons instead of taking the circuitous but safer official paths.

       Once the event became more established teams would fly in from outside Hong Kong to take part. I believe the Team  record for the original Trail (it was changed at the end after 2008.) was 11 hrs 52 minutes by G4S. The new Trail, post 2009  record is held by in 2013 by some US athletes called Team Columbia at 10 hrs 58 minutes.

The fastest time for an individual (unsupported) is held by WONG Ho-chung, a Hong Kong ultra marathon runner in 10 hrs 38 min in December 2020.

In 2017, Ian Crawford of Petersfield, Hampshire, continuing his support of the Gurkha Welfare Trust and aged 74 years old, completed a record 19th UK Trailwalker in a time of 29hrs 34mins. 

       Sic Transit Gloria Mundi

and that was a nice piece of nostalgia for me.

And now what is Trending across WAGS WhatsApp from Myriam!

Ostrich, chicken, hummingbird eggs

In the 70's and 80's, egg yolk was thought to be the cause of high cholesterol. Egg white was the good guy which supplied proteins. I remember first time using egg whites in tetra pak  containers which we had in Vancouver/

Now they are easily available in supermarkets. 

Don't know when the nutritionists changed their minds. Now whole eggs are more beneficial than just the whites in terms of vitamin content, though all the cholesterol and 8% of your RDA of fat are in the yolks..

Eating an egg a day is encouraged.

A variety of eggs from feathered friends is available at the Lagos Farmers' Saturday Market. We managed to collect 6 different types, every one a different size and colour.

Can you identify them?   (answers to Myriam please. Members of WAGS Gourmet WhatsApp group are not eligible as they are extremely sophisticated in matters of comestibles!!)

And how eggs should be viewed: In a frying pan: Goose egg v XL chicken egg!

To finish a few pics from my non-Wednesday walks around Lagos, most taken with the new Hasselblad-developed camera on the OnePlus 9Pro.

Amaryllis

Here is a story worthy of a Disney movie. Perhaps the Oracle of Delphi can replace the Wicked Witch as the dispenser of bad advice. In Greek mythology, a nymph named Amaryllis fell in love with Alteo, and why not? Although a mere shepherd boy, he had the strength of Hercules and the beauty of Apollo.

But, Amaryllis, although a lovely young maiden, could not, like, get his attention, you know? So she went to the Oracle of Delphi. And, wouldn’t you know, the oracle was a high priestess in a sisterhood of seers who guided the kings of Greece. So not that far from, say, witches.

In any case, the Oracle of Delphi, who, for all we know wanted Alteo for herself, told Amaryllis to knock at his door and present him with the thing he wanted most: a beautiful flower he had never seen before.

How would she do that? The Oracle said she should dress in maidenly white and then, using a golden arrow, pierce her heart if he did not answer the door. And do this for 30 nights.  As a storybook this would get repetitive, unless you are teaching a child to count to 30. But on the 30th night, Alteo opened the door and Amaryllis stood there, transformed into a beautiful red flower, created from the blood of her broken heart.

Well. Somehow, in Victorian times, giving someone an amaryllis was a reward for a job well done. Now it is better known as the Christmas lily, and brings joy to the home as a forced bulb. Two final points. It is not a lily, even though, like a lily, it has three outer tepals and three inner petals.

And what people display and give and grow at Christmas is not a true amaryllis. Sorry. A Botanical Congress in 1987 settled the matter with a ruling that the very small tribe of Amaryllideae consists of one true Amaryllis: the one from South Africa. The “Amaryllis” sold at Christmas is actually a Hippeastrum, which is from South America.

Home grown

And a final word, as I am watching the funeral of HRH Prince Philip while I finish this off.

What a man - what a life. RIP.

WAGS 31.03.2021: Just Another week.

Deja vu! Yves may tell us why that is in French, yet most people understand the meaning!  The Americans have taken it further - some say too far - with Groundhog Day. Again most of the English speaking world understand the concept.  Yet it is not a big thing in the British Isles.  

Hollywood made an amusing film about it, but how many of you have actually watched it?

Would it be good to start again each day and go through your actions and responses until you got everything right - perhaps then moving on to the next level, as in a video game. 

Do we welcome repetition and familiarity, or crave new experiences and something different to feel really alive. Does it depend on whether you have a long time to go and everything is new - or whether you have 'Been there - Done that' , already. Just to break up what is becoming a string of rhetorical questions, here is a trailer:-

   Personally, I have no problem with repetition, as long as I enjoy the activities, and the cycle is not too long. I welcome the predictability, and at its best, it is a stress buster. However my younger self welcomed change, excitement and new fields.

    The modern family with lots of hands-off and laissez faire programming are a good example these days.    Children seem to demand to be entertained and cannot make their own simple pleasures, until the parents invest greatly and wire them up to the support of an X-Box or the like.  I am sure most readers will have selective memories of long sunny days messing about with friends in the Great Outdoors. Since I was at  first a father I seem to recall the oft repeated refrain " Dad I'm bored!". Did we ever say that ourselves, or did we just go out, get phenomenally dirty, undergo massive risks to our 'Elf 'n safety, and ne'er a mention of Mental Health suffering nor PTSD when we occasionally fell out of trees.   The only things that would get us back indoors were hunger or pitch black night, and not always the latter!

   But now a modern family with progressive parents. The Marsh's decided not to give their 4 children unlimited use of the X-box and TV, to gain a little peace. They decided to make use of the time by composing parodies of popular songs, with parts for each child, Dad and Mum. They were fortunate that the whole family had good singing voices, and at least one of them was a talented lyricist.   If you watch their first videos at  least a year ago, they are a bit messy and unpolished, but now their latest video has better production values - and a different background. The latest offering is a witty parody of the Beatles 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'.

Goodbye Pandemic Road

 I will play another of their early vids and leave it to you if you want to hear any more. Just Search  YouTube for 'Marsh Family Lockdown Parodies'.I suspect that they have left a lot of other Fathers and Mothers feeling a bit inadequate, but to be fair, it is within the reach of most families to come up with something original, whether of this quality or not, to occupy and educate their offspring.

One Day More

Now where was I?   GroundHog Day. Yes if the groundhog emerges from its burrow on Feb 2nd and sees it's own shadow, it will go back underground for an extra 6 weeks. According to WikiPedia this day February 2nd is designated such because of a crossover from the Pennsylvania Dutch, who arrived in America, already having a tradition of Candlemas, a Catholic Day, on Feb 2nd,  which if it is a clear day presages an extra 4 weeks of winter. The roots were more likely in folklore traditions and superstitions. In Germanic Europe the animal was a badger or fox or bear.  Once bears became rarer they nominated the fox in Germany but the badger (dachs) in Holland. These do not hibernate completely but build up fat (much as some of us do) in preparation for the winter, and reduce their activity. In Pennsylvania, they not only changed the weather predicting animal to the groundhog (dox), but extended the extra 4 weeks of winter to 6 weeks.

The quote in Pennsylvanian Dutch is:-

Wann der Dachs sei Schadde seht im Lichtmess Marye, dann geht er widder in's Loch un beleibt noch sechs Woche drin. Wann Lichtmess Marye awwer drieb is, dann bleibt der dachs haus un's watt noch enanner Friehyaahr.

 (When the groundhog sees his shadow on the morning of February 2, he will again go into his hole and remain there for six weeks. But if the morning of February 2 is overcast, the groundhog will remain outside and there will be another spring.

The Scots got in on the act with '"If Candlemas is fair and clear / There'll be twa winters in the year"

The French too (or Victor Hugo) have a saying:-

'Qu'il luise ou qu'il luiserne, L'ours rentre en sa caverne.'

(Let it gleam or let it glimmer, The bear goes back into his cave.)"

– Hugo, Victor. "Les Misérables." 

Well there we are.  We have been living it for the past year.

Here we might use the White Stork which nests and lays eggs from end March/ beginning April, but they are not exactly consistent, and having a clear day is hardly a rarity here.  However they are amazing birds and superb architects, as I have often said before. Unlike the other dominant bird in the Algarve, the variety of Gull, which are noisy, destructive and not subject to discipline. Just like modern anti lockdown (or anti Almost Everything) protestors.

  On one of my saunters this week, I saw a site where the palm tree had been killed by Red Beetle infestation. There had been previous attempts to nest, once the palm crown had collapsed, but the Camara had capped the tree with a pyramid of  wire to discourage their return. From the side where I approached I could see that the storks had taken advantage of this wire pyramid as a back wall to their nest. and woven supports using the wire. I was lucky enough to catch the picture below of the stork in residence, looking as if imprisoned by the wire.

 Shot on : OnePlus 7Pro

Like the turkey eggs mentioned in last week's blog, not only the storks and seagulls laying, but also, apparently are the geese. On our weekly trip to the Farmers Market this week, we found some Goose eggs for sale on one stall. We were looking for more turkey eggs but apparently they had been sold as he had far less available. So we bought up his last 4 Goose Eggs and reserved some turkey eggs for next week. Hearing expressions of interest, this farmer will remain a closely guarded secret, but we may act as his agents!

Goose eggs v. XL chicken eggs

Breakfast comparison: Comparatively more yolk to white with the goose. And tasty too!

Unless someone else comes up with more, I will pause here. Hopefully John had a more exciting week than I. Well he probably enjoyed last Friday evening anyway!

JohnH writes:-

Well, I make no comment about the events of last Friday because of a solemn undertaking I gave to Yves not to mention the subject again, ever, so as to spare his feelings.. So I can´t dwell on it, much as I would like to. 

The previous week, I put in some thoughts about fish and chips, which seemed to stir one or two memories. This last week, for some reason or other, my line of research has been into pies, starting off with an examination of what a Shepherds Pie is.. One would think it fairly simple of definition, but no. There is a remarkable amount of debate about pies, so much so that there are those who are adamant that a Shepherds Pie, for all that it is called a Shepherds Pie, is NOT a pie. But let´s leave that area of pedantry until later and look into its origins first.

Remarkably enough, the mutton pie originated in Scotland. These original pies were baked in pastry crusts and used left-over roast meat combined with a savoury gravy to bring it all together. The meat would be lamb or mutton. When I was at school in Edinburgh, the tuck shop used to sell these pies at break time and they were known simply as Pies.

You can still buy the traditional Scotch mutton pie in Edinburgh and I would recommend those from an excellent butchers called Crombies in Broughton Street in that city. (Their haggis and sausages are excellent as well; ça vaux le détour.)

Then the dish made its way across to Ireland where they skipped the pastry and used their plentiful potatoes instead to provide a mashed topping. Such pies had to be served from pudding bowls, whereas the Scotch pie, being self-contained within its thin but firm crust pastry, could be hand-held as you ate it, no eating irons or plates required. Then when the dish made its way to England, in the north of that country, they continues to make it with mutton; further south they began to use minced beef and pork, but those creations are more properly called Cottage Pies. According to etymologists, the description Cottage Pie first appeared in 1791 and the label Shepherds Pie not until 1854.

A typical Shepherds Pie

Modern life being what it is, there is apparently now a vegetarian version named the Shepherdless Pie. I have no tasting notes.

Now, back to the pedantry. The sticklers assert that a real pie is a dish prepared in a pastry-lined pan and then topped with a crust of the same pastry. This accords with the traditional Scotch pie. It is also the way that some truly delicious pies were made and served in an old-fashioned half-timbered pub in Manchester´s Shambles when I was there back in the early 60´s; a whole pie encased in a thick but soft pastry (the technical name of which I forget) served hot with onion gravy. Unforgettable. A great way to have lunch after clocking out after a Saturday half-day in the office.

And of course the famous Melton Mowbray pork pie is one of the self-contained models.

The Melton Mowbray can come with quail eggs inside, although it must be tricky not to overcook these delicate eggs.

Dishes which have no pastry lining but only a pastry topping are not real pies, according to these pundits, and those dishes with no pastry lining or topping are not pies at all but are really casseroles or Hachis Parmentier as the French have it. And talking about the French, in Canada, shepherds pie (without any pastry) is called Paté Chinois.

Hachis Parmentier

Which side am I on in the great pie debate? Well, I tend to favour the “whole thing being encased in pastry” argument because that is what I enjoyed at school but, when Hazel serves up one of her delicious fish pies Mariner, who am I to argue?

Fish Pie

Chacun à son goût, or de gustibus non est disputandum.

   Thanks for the reminder John -- Pie and Chips tonight. I couldn't let yo close without a mention of the second most famous and possibly most consumed pie in UK. The splendid 'Peoples Pukka Pie! Available in chippies all over the realm , and from the better supermarkets including Iceland ,Portimao (at least they were pre-Brexit). Established in 1963, one of my favourites and now their scientists have come up with a microwaveable pie that can be on your plate, piping hot in under 3 minutes from the freezer!!